


Blackout in the Blizzard

by MDMorley



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Melendaire Monday, Snow, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 19:21:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16939200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MDMorley/pseuds/MDMorley
Summary: Claire Browne and Neil Melendez find themselves stuck in the elevator of the hospital on their way out because of a storm that cuts the power. Neil then addresses Claire's strange reaction earlier in the day when she discovered that Neil and Lim were dating outside the hospital.





	Blackout in the Blizzard

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Melendaire Monday everyone, I'm very happy to share this One Shot with you all.
> 
> The Prompt was an original idea of Abby, so this one is for you as well as everyone in the Melendaire Group Chat.
> 
> Special kudo to Katie who edited this work, since I'm French and sometimes clumsy with grammar and typo.
> 
> Anyway, see you next Monday for another prompt 😁.

San Jose was hit by a Category Three snow storm and, as any storm of that magnitude would, it did a lot of damage. Claire's shift was extended by six hours as a result of the extra patients and the lack of employees due to the time of the year.

During this same shift Claire had learned that her superior, Dr. Neil Melendez, was apparently sharing more than a professional relationship with her other superior, Dr. Audrey Lim. 

Dr. Browne had tried not to have any reaction to this news, but deep down this information annoyed her although she didn't quite understand why. She couldn’t help but wonder what Melendez saw in her. It wasn't that Dr. Lim wasn’t great, it was that she just couldn't picture them together. It didn’t make any sense to her. This thought was interrupted when the doors of the elevator opened to reveal none other than Dr. Neil Melendez himself.

She flashed him a friendly smile as she walked in, reaching for her intended floor button but stopped as it was already lit: his shift was apparently over too as they were going to the same level. She was about to open her mouth to break the silence when the elevator made a sudden jerk and stopped dead, leaving them both in a cabin half-lit by security lights.

As if her day wasn’t crappy enough, she had to get stuck in an elevator with her boss with whom she didn't particularly wanted to spend time with. Fate was apparently angry at her. Melendez tried to be reassuring, "the emergency generators shouldn’t take long to take over, with a storm like this, a power cut was predictable.”  
“Yes, even if this power outage could have occurred after I left the hospital. It would have been nice to have some luck for once. You know, getting stuck in an elevator wasn’t really on my bucket list, nor my to do list of the day–”  
“Especially with the most boring person in the world?” Neil gave a frank laugh at the decomposed expression of his resident, but his remark didn’t have the desired effect since Claire frowned a little more:  
"It's not really the word I would have chosen to describe you, nor the way I was going to finish that sentence. It's just that this shift has been long and I would prefer to go home and collapse on my bed after a long warm shower. But you're right, the backup generators should start soon; what else could go wrong, right?"

Unfortunately, the power wasn’t restored five minutes later, nor twenty minutes later. It has now been half an hour since they were originally stranded in the hospital elevator cabin. Neil had been the first to sit down after realizing their phones had no signal and they couldn’t tell anyone about their situation. It had taken Claire a few extra minutes to sit by his side.The only benefit to this situation was that hospital elevators were wider than conventional lifts, leaving them more room to comfortably extend their legs, even though Claire had chosen to pull her knees to her chest. 

Since they had exchanged banalities about the patients they had treated a little more than ten minutes ago, a silence had settled. But this silence was strangely uncomfortable. Claire didn’t know what to say without indirectly talking about the burning piece of information the residents had found out concerning the two attendings; so she opted for silence, keeping it quiet was better than saying something she would regret. But Neil decided otherwise.

“I guess the whole hospital knows by now.” Claire wasn’t sure what he was talking about  
“About what? Us being stuck in the elevator? I strongly doubt it.”  
“No, I was talking about–”  
Now she knew what he meant so she cut him off, “About you and Dr. Lim? Probably, although it's none of my business.”  
Neil gave her a weird look. "You don’t approve, do you?"  
Claire looked up at the ceiling, trying to find a way to put an end to this conversation because the last person she wanted to have this with was him, especially in a confined space where she couldn't leave. "Like I told you, this is none of my business. You sleep with whoever you want.”

Neil glanced at her, a strange expression on his features. "It's funny, I could have sworn the opposite from the expression on your face earlier today. Claire, you can express yourself freely: we are stuck in an elevator, so right now I’m a normal person, not your boss. I will not blame you for your opinion since I’m the one who asked for it. Let's say this space is a neutral zone, okay?"

Claire hesitated for a few seconds, he wasn’t going to let it go if she was truthful, so she went for the easiest way out: lying. "Fair enough. It’s not that I don’t approve of it, it just reminded me of my relationship with Jared. We were two colleagues who were a little more than that. People knew at the hospital and you may not know but that's what made Dr. Coyle think that I was an easy target to hit on. It's what started the whole incident that followed; it complicated things between me and Jared and so he left. Not entirely because of me, but partly I think. Since this, I tell myself that it’s better to stay professional and to not mix private and professional life with my colleagues or superiors."

What she said wasn’t entirely false; the story was true, it was just not relevant to Dr. Melendez's request.

“I didn’t know that your relationship with Jared had been a factor in the incident with Dr. Coyle. I am sorry to hear that.” Neil nodded.

Claire smiled shyly, slightly ashamed of having lied.  
“It's not your fault if Dr. Coyle thought that because I had a relationship with a member of the medical team, I'd be willing to sleep with anyone on the staff at the hospital.” She laughed  
“No, indeed.” Neil chuckled.

Claire was relieved: the bullet was dodged. She wondered why she felt the need to lie or why she was embarrassed by the situation. She knew that the story she had just told was not the reason she was upset by the fact that Neil was sleeping with Lim. Lying to herself and others, though, had always been easier than facing her own emotions and feelings. Emotions and feelings were always leading her toward disappointment.

Neil noticed the closed expression on Claire's face, which was the same he had seen earlier. "Dr. Browne, are you okay?”

Claire pulled herself together and turned her head to look her superior in the eyes, "Yes, of course. I’m just starting to wonder when we are going to get out of here. It must have been an hour now, the power should be back. It's weird.” She suddenly stood up, feeling uncomfortable by their proximity. She needed to put some distance between them, so she started looking at the buttons on the elevator like they were the most interesting thing on earth.

“Not as weird as the expression on your face. It tells me you’re obviously annoyed by something, like it was earlier today. What is it you’re not telling me?” Neil had gotten up too.

Claire pretended not to hear. “Unbelievable! Even the emergency button won't work.”  
“When you’re done avoiding the subject, maybe you’ll be able to answer my question?” Neil was growing annoyed by her avoidance. Claire pretended not to understand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not avoiding anything. Is the lack of space making you lose your mind or something?” She was growing less and less comfortable by the situation.

Neil raised an arm in the air, clearly exasperated. “I think you know very well what I'm talking about.”  
“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Neil shot her a meaningful look.  
“Why are you so stubborn?” he retorted.  
“Stubborn, me? That’s rich coming from the most stubborn person in this hospital; not to mention most annoying and endowed with an oversized ego!”  
Claire realised she might have gone too far, placing a hand over her mouth in surprise. “I'm sorry, that's not what I meant–”

Neil cut her off abruptly: “No, don’t be sorry, a little honesty is refreshing! And since we’re being honest with each other, why don’t you give me your real opinion about my relationship with Dr. Lim.”

“I've already given it to you, I have nothing else to say. Anyways, why is it so important to you what I think about your relationships? And while we're being honest, why did you really kick me off your team? Was it because your ego couldn’t stand that a woman had a better idea about how to treat a patient? Or was it just pure stupidity? Because, thinking about it, last year Shaun was convinced he could save a young boy’s life and was ready to take a bone marrow sample on the patient to prove it, against your orders. When you found out, you simply kicked him off the case. But you didn’t kick him off your team. So, why did you try so hard to have me out of your’s for good?”

Neil was taken aback by her outburst: he definitely hadn’t seen coming. “It doesn’t matter, Shaun was– You’re changing the subject. Why does Dr. Lim and I seeing each other bother you?”

Claire raised both arms in the air, far beyond exasperated. “You are unbelievable! For the thousandth time: I don’t give a shit about your relationship with Dr. Lim. Do you really think that you are so interesting that everyone has to validate you and be on the lookout for the smallest of facts about you and your whereabouts?”  
“I don't think that–”  
“Bullshit! Why do you care so much about what I think about you being involved with her?”  
“Because I think you lied to me about the real reason why you disapprove of it so much!”

Without realizing it, they had drawn close to each other, standing only inches apart. It was as if they were magnets, attracting each other to be as close as possible.

Claire asked sharply, “why would I need to lie to you?”  
Neil looked at her intently and finally gave in. “For the same reason I had to lie to you about why I kept you away from my team for as long as I could.” His voice was so intense that Claire had goosebumps. Her gaze was unconsciously passing between Neil's beautiful dark eyes and his lips. The tension between them was tangible. Gathering what was left of her boldness, she asked him in a voice less assured than she would have wanted, "And what is the reason, Doctor Mel–"

Neil didn’t let her finish her sentence before his lips crashed on hers. The violence of the kiss pushed her against the wall of the elevator. Neil pressed his body against hers while Claire held tight onto his neck, allowing herself to be completely carried away by the feeling. And that's when she realized what she had refused to admit for months: the undeniable attraction she felt for the arrogant and annoying Neil Melendez.

Neil slid one of his hands from her face to her waist, touching the side of her breast. His hand passed smoothly over her back bringing her as close to him as possible. His lips left hers and went for her neckline, murmuring her name in a voice full of the desire he had been refusing himself for so long.

He often made bad decisions, and the decision to give in to his urge would surely prove to be the worst of them. But right now, he would not trade that moment for anything in the world. So he went back to her plump lips, kissing her like their lives depended on it: and in that moment, maybe it did. 

The passionate embrace abruptly ended when the lights of the elevator came back on and the lift resumed its way to the ground floor. Neil and Claire parted breathlessly, not quite sure what had just happened. Neil looked at Claire, his gaze full of multitudes of emotions passing through too quickly for her to understand them fully. The elevator stopped. The doors opened. He stroked her cheek gently and huskily said, “That's the reason why Claire.”

A second later, Neil pulled back and left the elevator, leaving Claire stunned and touching her lips absentmindedly. She was unsure of what just happened or what it meant; but one thing was sure: this experience would not leave her mind for a long time.


End file.
